“In response to a query by a member of parliament, the German Finance Ministry has declared that it accepts bitcoins as a ‘unit of account.’ The Ministry added that bitcoins are a sort of ‘private money’ and that mining bitcoins constitutes ‘private money creation.’ The Ministry also clarified that if a German taxpayer holds bitcoins for more than a year, then she is exempt from paying the 25 percent capital gains tax. Such a tax would ordinarily be paid after profiting from the sale of a stock, bond, or other security. A taxpayer would be expected to declare them as part of her assets and income as part of her annual tax return.”